Profile: the brutal cartel boss who took sadistic killing to new levels

With his steely efficiency and merciless sadism towards his enemies, the name
of Miguel Angel Treviño Morales could evoke mortal fear in even the most
hardened of Mexican gangsters.

Photos of Morales taken after his arrest. The writing on the photograph reads "Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, 40 years old, allegedly responsible for unlawful acts"Photo: REUTERS

By Hannah Strange

12:26PM BST 16 Jul 2013

As head of the Zetas, Mexico's most brutal drug cartel, Treviño Morales was responsible for some of the most sickening atrocities in the country's bloody drug war, now in its seventh year.

Under his direction, the Zetas took cartel violence to new levels of depravity, beheading and mutilating members of rival drug gangs as they battled for dominance of lucrative drug routes throughout Mexico and Central America. Victims were found with their hearts cut out, dismembered and hung from bridges, the letter Z carved into their bodies as a calling card. Treviño Morales himself was renowned for favouring a method known as "el guiso" (the stew) in which victims were doused with petrol and burned alive in oil barrels.

"He's the most sadistic of them," said George Grayson, an expert on the Zetas at the College of William & Mary. "He really gets off on inflicting diabolical pain on people."

It is a strategy that has yielded results. As former enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas finally broke away from their employers only in 2010 and since then have expanded at an astonishing speed to establish themselves as one of the country's most powerful drug gangs.

Their reach has spread rapidly throughout the region: in 2011, the Guatemalan government was forced to declare a state of emergency after finding that much of the country had fallen under control of the Zetas. Their presence has been reported as far afield as Argentina, and Italy - where they are said to have struck up an alliance with the 'Ndrangheta mafia.

Much of the Zetas' success derives from the cartel's military origins. It started life as a group primarily comprised of defectors from a Mexican special forces unit known as El Gafe, a provenance that has endowed it with a ruthless military efficiency and an ability to anticipate and evade the tactics of the country's armed forces.

Treviño Morales - codenamed Z-40 in the Zetas' military-style hierarchy - does not hail from the armed forces. A former member of the Gulf Cartel, he is said to have broken with Zetas leader Heriberto Lazcano - alias El Lazca - last year, the group rupturing into two warring factions.

When Lazcano was killed by the Mexican navy in October last year, Treviño Morales was left with ultimate control.

Whether his downfall will ultimately have an impact on the Zetas' operations, however, is doubtful. US drug enforcement officials in the region acknowledge that the capture of such high profile bosses is often largely symbolic, with cartel leaderships quickly regenerating as the next in command steps up to fill their capos' shoes.

Nevertheless he is a mighty scalp for the Mexican government, his capture a coup for President Enrique Peña Nieto after taking office in December.

Treviño Morales is expected to be succeeded by his brother, Omar, a former low-ranking turf boss seen as far weaker than his older brother. His removal from the scene could merely strengthen the country's most-wanted man, Sinaloa cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who has overseen a vicious turf war with the Zetas.